I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for the talent He has bestowed on all of us!
I have been artistic all of my life and love experimenting with different mediums and techniques. This blog is my creative outlet to share my passion for cardmaking and papercrafting!

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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

One of my favorite
challenge blogs, Hand Stamped Sentiments is having a Design Team "Try-Out " and I wanted to create a card
to throw my name “into the ring”!

As most of you who
regularly visit my blog know, I started my blog approximately 1 1/2 years ago and love to participate in weekly challenges! I have been
a Guest Designer on several of my favorite challenge blogs- The Paper Players, Friday
Mash Up, A La Card Monkey, Sunny Challenges and Creations and recently have
been named to the May-August Creative Crew on Splitcoast Stampers, but I would
like to be a regular member of a weekly Design Team :-)

I love the variety of
challenges that Hand Stamped Sentiments provides each week- I have some tough competition, wish me luck! :-)

I decided to
create a Vintage Style card with Distressing (since this style comes very easy
to me) and I had not had a chance to ink up my bird stamp, Young Vermillion yet. I love to watch birds and most likely will
not have an opportunity to see a Vermillion in real life (since it appears as
though their normal habitat is in South America and Southern Mexico) so I
researched online to check their coloring.

This stamp appears
to be a young female Vermillion but I decided to use the colors of a male.

To create this
card:

Stamp the bird
image with Versamark™ ink onto Very Vanilla cardstock, apply Stampin’ Emboss®
Black Embossing Powder and heat with the Heat Tool. Once cooled, color the image with Stampin’
Up! Watercolor Pencils then apply a bit of water with the Aqua Painter.

Use the Big Shot™
with the Designer Oval Frame Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folder to create
the embossed frame around the bird image.
Stamp the background stamp from French Foliage using Crumb Cake ink,
tear around the edges and distress by hand.
Apply Crumb Cake ink with a Sponge Dauber to “antique”.

Ink the smooth
interior of the Vintage Textured Impressions™Embossing Folder with Soft Suede
Classic Ink and emboss a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock. Also emboss a piece of Everyday Enchantment
DSP and lightly sand with the Sanding Block.

Layer the pieces,
add the Victoria Lace Trim, add the 5/8” Early Espresso Satin Ribbon bow,
sentiment and pearls to finish off the card.

Again, both sites
provide so much inspiration between their wonderful Design Teams and the entries
each week- if you have a chance, stop by and see for yourselves!

To create this
card:

De-static a piece
of Watercolor Paper and stamp the images from Nature Walk with Versamark™
ink. Apply Stampin’ Emboss® Black Embossing
Powder, heat with the Heat Tool. Once the embossing
powder has cooled, color the images with Watercolor Pencils and the Aqua
Painter.

Punch the egg image with the 1
¼” and 1 3/8” Circle Punches, use the 1 ¼” Punch for the bee and “fussy cut”
the bird image.

Huff onto the ink
on the background stamp and stamp the punched pieces. Mount the circles onto Basic Black
cardstock.

Crimp a strip of
Basic Black cardstock using the Crimper Tool.
Apply the 5/8” Black Satin Ribbon bow over the embossed background layer,
add the crimped layer of Basic Black cardstock, adhere the strip of blue Satin
Ribbon, mount the circle images with Stampin’ Dimensionals and the sentiment to
finish off the card.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Another week and time
for another CoulourQ Challenge! This
week’s CQC129 colors are beautiful and remind me of Easter eggs so I had to
create an Easter card.

This card was quick
and easy- a bit of embossing, coloring with markers and you are finished!

To create this card:

Color the main floral
image from Fresh Vintage with Stampin’ Write markers- Wisteria Wonder, Rich
Razzleberry and Turquoise onto Whisper White cardstock. Use the Blossom Punch to punch out the image
and also punch a flower from Rich Razzleberry.

Cut towards the
center along each petal of the Rich Razzleberry punched flower- this will give
you six petal pieces to adhere to the back of the focal image and create a layered
look.

Use the Brayer to
apply Rich Razzleberry ink to the smooth side of the interior of the Finial
Press Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folder and emboss a piece of Cool Caribbean
(retired) as well as a piece of Rich Razzleberry.

Create the layers,
add the 5/8” Rich Razzleberry Satin Ribbon (retired), sentiment and Pearls to
finish off the card.

I have been invited to be a Guest Designer
for this week’s SC33/12 Challenge at Sunny Challenges and Creations! If you have the time, stop by their blog and
check out the inspiration from the Design Team as well as the other Guest
Designers (and while you’re at it, why not join us for this challenge)?

Use the Big Shot™ with the Oval Designer Frame Textured
Impressions™ Embossing Folder and emboss over the image. Tear around the outside, distressing with
your finger and sponge Soft Suede to gently “antique” the image.

Emboss a piece of the Mocha Morning
Specialty DSP with the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folder
and a piece of Sahara Sand DSP with the Herringbone Textured Impressions™
Embossing Folder. Lightly sand both
layers with the Sanding Block and lightly sponge Soft Suede ink over the layers
to bring out the texture.

Distress the edges of the Mocha Morning
layer and mount onto Early Espresso cardstock.

Mount the Sahara Sand layer onto Early
Espresso, distress the edges of the Early Espresso with the Distressing Tool,
add Sticky Strip along the bottom edge and attach the Victoria Lace Trim (ruffling
as you attach it to the Sticky Strip).

Layer onto the Mocha Morning panel, add the
5/8” Early Espresso Satin Ribbon (retired) and sentiment. Apply 2-Way Glue and Dazzling Diamonds to the
wings of the bee, add a few pearls and the card is finished!

This card also would have qualified for The Paper Players CAS#87 Challenge but I am not able to stamp until Friday evening (and their challenge closes Friday at noon now).

Just wanted to give them a "shout out"- the Design Team has fabulous projects not to mention all of the other wonderful submissions. Maybe I can get a chance to create in time for next week! :-)

Many of the artists in the gallery created
Daffodils from punch art along so many other creative ideas. If you have the time, check them out thru the
link above and while you are at it, give this challenge a try yourself! Even though there is not a deadline for submission and the galleries should remain
open indefinitely, Blushing Bride is one of the In-Colors that will be
retiring this year (along with Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz,
Concord Crush).

Don't forget- the new Stampin' Up! catalog will be out soon and if you need any replenishment on the retiring In-Colors or would like to obtain these colors for future use, now is the time!If you do not already have a demonstrator, you can order directly from my SU! Website.If you place order before the end of March, you can earn a free Sale-A-Bration item for each sales increment of $ 50.00 (before tax and s/h).Now is the time to order your In-Colors and take advantage of this great Sale-A-Bration!

To create this card:

De-static a piece of Whisper White
cardstock with the Embossing Buddy® (yes, I know that “The Buddy” is unavailable to order right now
and SU! is looking for another supplier but many of you have one in stock and I
cannot emboss with it :-)).

Use a Brayer and apply Daffodil Delight
Classic Ink to the smooth interior of the Finial Press Textured Impressions™
Embossing Folder. Emboss a piece of
Blushing Bride cardstock and mount this onto a piece of Chocolate Chip
cardstock.

Emboss a piece of So Saffon DSP (from the
Designer Series Paper Pack) with the Square Lattice Textured Impressions™
Embossing Folder and adhere to the Blushing Bride layer.

Adhere the flower image, attach the Tiny
Tag sentiment and the Chocolate Chip button (also retired) and layer onto So
Saffron to finish off the card.

I hope you have fun creating this weekend
and don’t forget to join us on the Creative Crew Challenges! I have just found out this week that I will be on the May-August Design Team and
will be able to announce the May challenges on May 1st.

If you are a SU! Demo and have access to the
Demo Forum on SCS, come join us! If you
are not a Demo, now is the best time to sign up- the kit is only $125.00 (vs. $175.00 until
the end of March) and not only will you receive the discount, an additional gift each month with your Demonstrator order, you also have so
many other “perks” of being a Demo!
Interested in joining my team?
Just let me know, if you would like more information….

Thanks again for visiting and all of your
encouragement! Have a blessed week!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Another weekend is almost over and back to work tomorrow:-)) I so enjoy my free time on the weekends and yesterday had the privilege of spending time with my new recruit, Susan (yea!) and her two oldest daughters. We had a great day learning new techniques and some of the "tricks of the trade" - I am looking forward to spending time with these lovely ladies again real soon :-))

This evening, I wanted to create one more card and thought the cheerful HSSTC109 Rainbow Theme at Hand Stamped Sentiments was the perfect way to end the weekend!If you have not had the time to visit their site yet, check out all of the great samples of the rainbow colors- such creativity!

The most time consuming part of this card was creating the rolled flowers. Many of you have inquired on how they were created and they are quite simple. Below is a brief tutorial and there is a wonderful tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers describing a similar method.

This is how I create the Rolled Flowers:

Using a circle punch, punch out the number of circles needed for your card (one per flower). FYI- For this card I used the 1 3/8” Circle Punch but you can use any size circle punch- the larger the circle the larger the flower.

Using the Crimper Tool, crimp the cardstock circles (I run the circles thru the Crimper twice, angling the circle for the second pass).

Starting on the outside of the circle, use scissors to cut a wavy line following the outline of the circle (creating a spiral until you reach the middle and leave a piece of cardstock available as a little base). Place a small amount of liquid glue (I used Tombow Multi Adhesive) and press the cardstock flower edges into the glue holding until gently set.

Manipulate the petals and using the tip of your scissors, press the very beginning of the rolled flower edge into the center (to create a flat spot for the pearl- this is the very middle of the flower and were the spiral started). Add the pearl and adhere the flower to your card using Mini Glue Dots.

I hope this brief written tutorial helps you- the flowers are easy to make but do take a bit of patience and time- have fun giving it a try!

As mentioned above, this card incorporates the rolled flowers along with embossed panels, satin ribbon and of course, pearls:-) . Once the flowers were made, the card was quick and easy to assemble.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Another busy week but
what beautiful weather here on the East Coast! We have had such
a mild winter this year and this week’s weather has reminded us that spring has
arrived!

Even though I an half Irish, I do not normally create St. Patrick;'s Day cards but wanted to create a card using
the CQC128 ColourQ Challenge colors (just a "wee bit late" for St. Patrick’s Day :-)). I also decided
to combine the colors with the Splitcoast Stampers SC374 Sketch Challenge- but left the sentiment off to add later (could be used as a Get Well, Thinking of You and possibly Sympathy card).

Again, I hope you will take the time to visit both sites- the ColourQ Design Team has so
many inspirational designs and of course, Splitcoast is a stamper's dream!

To create the
focal image, de-static a piece of Certainly Celery and Glorious Green (retired) cardstock with the Embossing Buddy®. Stamp the floral
image from Mixed Bunch using Versamark® ink , apply Stampin’ Emboss® Silver Embossing Powder and
heat with the Heat Tool. Once cooled, punch
the flower from the Certainly Celery using the Blossom Punch and use the
5-Petal Punch on the Glorious Green image (for the leaves) and the 1" Circle Punch for the center.

Use the Big Shot™
with the Framleits™ Labels Collection and cut a piece of Wild Wasabi and Very
Vanilla. Run the Wild Wasabi layer
through the Big Shot™ and the Finial Press Textured Impressions™ Embossing
Folder and the Very Vanilla with the Snowburst Textured Impressions™ EF. Punch
out a circle of Going Gray with the 2 ½” Circle Punch and emboss as well with
the Finial Press EF.

Mount onto a piece
of Certainly Celery (embossed with the Finial Press folder – brayer Wild Wasabi
onto the smooth side of the folder before embossing).

Layer per the sketch
and add the Gray Satin Ribbon (from my stash) and Pearl to finish off the card.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Spring is definitely here this week on the East Coast and the gorgeous PP86 Spring Color Challenge from The Paper Players is perfect for this time of year!

I decided to use the color combination along with the SSC246 sketch from Stamping411. As always, the gals at both sites have created such beautiful projects- such inspiration! Hopefully you will have the time to visit each of their sites:-)

Actually this card has very little stamping, four embossing folders and six punches- fairly quick to create once the rolled flowers were made.

To create this card:

Use the Big Shot™ with the Square Lattice Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folder to emboss a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock and a piece of Everyday Enchantment DSP. On the embossed Crumb Cake layer, emboss again using the Decorative Oval Frame. Carefully cut out the Oval Frame (use the part of the background layer that will not show on the card).

Emboss a piece of Very Vanilla with the Elegant Lines Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folder- punch out a piece with the XL Oval Punch and trim another piece for the central panel. Add the Victoria Lace border with Sticky Strip at the bottom (ruffling the lace as you adhere it to the back). Layer entire panel onto a piece of Lucky Limeade, add the ½” Crumb Cake Seam Binding and the rows of Pearls.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

I had a great day
yesterday with my loving husband:-) He works very long hours through the week and only has a Saturday off once every three to four weeks but this past Saturday we
were able to escape for the day to Skyline Drive at Shenandoah
National Park in Virginia :-) We love the nature, serenity and all of the gorgeous vistas- truly a place that we feel closer to God and His Creation- a peaceful place that helps to to restore our souls!

Stamping is another way that I relieve stress so I wanted to create at least one card before my hectic week at work started. I decided to try this week's HSSCC108 Color Challenge and had so much fun that I ended up making two cards:-)

Once reason I like participating in color
challenges is that they "challenge" me to use color combinations that I normally
would not put together and this one was no exception.Real Red and Daffodil Delight are wonderful
colors but a bit brighter than I normally tend to gravitate towards and to combine them with Soft Suede and Crumb Cake, I originally was not
so sure:-)

I seemed to recall that these colors may be in my neglected Attic Boutique Designer Series paper and lo and behold, several of the pages focused on these colors!

The first card is a quick, Clean and Simple (CAS) card and has very little stamping- the Attic Boutique DSP took center stage!

Just emboss the DSP panel with the Big Shot™ and the Framed Tulips Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folder. Lightly sand the embossed areas with the Sanding Block.

Add the Real Red Satin Ribbon bow with the rolled flower/pearl center. To create the flower- punch the Daffodil Delight cardstock with the 1 3/8" Circle Punch, run through the Crimper Tool, cut a wavy spiral to the center, roll up from the outside edge, glue and place a pearl in the center.

Add the sentiment layered onto the XL Large Oval punched shapes and you are
finished!

Stamp the bee/floral image from Nature’s Pace onto
Crumb Cake with Soft Suede ink. Color
the flowers and leaves with Stampin’ Write markers in Daffodil Delight, Real Red and Crumb Cake. Distress the edges with the Distressing Tool
and your finger (tearing a bit along the way).
Sponge Soft Suede along the edges and use the Color Spritzer Tool with
the Stampin’ Write Soft Suede marker to add more details.

Use the Big Shot™
with the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folder to emboss a
piece of Antique Boutique DSP and Soft Suede cardstock.,

Layer all together
per the sketch, add the sentiment along with a few more flowers from the Boho
Blossom Punch and of course, pearls.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

I
decided to create a card using the “Spring” theme along with the FMS25 FreshlyMade Sketch and the CQC127 ColourQ colors.
All of the Design Teams and entries at both of these sites are
wonderfully inspiring- if you have time, check them out!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Even though this week
was extremely busy, I wanted to create a card using the retro CQC126ColourQ Challenge colors and I noticed that the ColourQ was highlighting a
new challenge blog from Arielle- Retro Sketches so I decided to use the RS1 sketch.

A brand new challenge with a wonderful idea- each week, a different Design Team member will choose an old "retro" sketch from one of their previous cards and create a new card with the "retro" sketch :-).If you had not had a chance to visit yet, check
out both sites for quite a bit of inspiration and join us for some fun!

To create this card:

To create the
focal image, de-static a piece of Whisper White with the Embossing Buddy®,
stamp the Sunflower background stamp with Versamark® ink, apply Stampin’
Emboss® Brown Embossing Powder (retired)
and heat with the Heat Tool. Once
cooled, color the petals with a Stampin’ Write Daffodil Delight marker.

Carefully cut
around the petals and mount the image onto a piece of Whisper White that has
been embossed with the Big Shot™ and the Square Lattice Textured Impressions™
Embossing Folder. Mount this onto
Pumpkin Pie.

Use the Crimper
Tool (had to use a retro tool for this one) and crimp the corners of a piece of
Pumpkin Pie cardstock to create the diamond pattern as well as three strips of
Early Espresso.

Assemble the
layers, add the sentiment and finish off with Metallic Brads.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

I have not had a chance to post this week
since I have been taking a break from my normal weekly challenges to create birthday cards and notebooks for our 5th
and 6th grade girls in Awana.

My fellow leaders and I decided to have our
first annual “combined” birthday party for the girls (celebrate one big
birthday for all so we would not forget anyone) and since this year was a Leap
Year, it was the perfect Wed. eve to hold the party.

We chose a “chocolate” theme and it seemed that
all of the girls had a great time with the games, food and gifts.

One of the leaders, Michelle (my good friend and technically co-Director :-)), found the perfect little
chocolate heart shaped charm and inserted them
into a brown chiffon bag that also included a magnet, chocolate and a few other goodies. We used a brown lunch bag tied with ribbon for the rest of the gifts- a covered notebook/journal, handmade card and
of course, more chocolate:-).

To create the notebooks, emboss a piece of
Certainly Celery cardstock using the Big Shot™ along with the Perfect Polka Dot Textured
Impressions™ Embossing Folder.

Add the
Satin Ribbon Bow and adhere this panel to the front of the notebook.

Use the Owl Builder Punch to punch out the
owl (I used retired Designer Series paper for the little vests) along with
Early Espresso cardstock for the body, Whisper White and Basic Black cardstock for the eyes, Pretty in Pink for the little heart.

Use the Scallop Punch to punch out the scallops from Early Espresso cardstock, hand cut the scallop
in half and then again in quarters for the wings. Adhere to the side of the body.

The Cupcake Builder Punch
was used for the black part of the eye (the small part of the eye on the Owl
Punch was too small for me to glue for 24 notebooks :-)).

Adhere the owl to the Certainly Celery panel, add the Pretty in Pink heart to the ear along with the Rhinestone to finish off the
notebook. Even though some of the owls appear to be cross-eyed, even my husband thought that the notebooks turned out cute!

Now for the birthday card- I decided to stay with a CAS card (since we needed 24) so I used the Big Shot™ again with the Perfect Polka Dot Textured
Impressions™ Embossing Folder to emboss another Certainly Celery cardstock layer.

Punch out the flower from Perfect Plum
cardstock using the Blossom Punch and emboss with the Petals-A-Plenty Textured
Impressions™ Embossing Folder. Punch a
hole in the center of the flower using the 5/16” Handheld Punch and insert the
Chocolate Chip Corduroy Button brad (retired).

Use the 5-Petal Flower Punch with Wild Wasabi
for the leaves. Cut the flower with two
petals on one side and three on the other.
Fold each flower in half and adhere to the Certainly Celery panel.

Mount the flower on top of the leaves, stamp the sentiment from Happiest Birthday Wishes (Hostess set) with Elegant Eggplant Classic Ink, add the ribbon bow and adhere
to the Whisper White card base.

I thought that the owl may be too "cutesy" for the leaders, so I decided to create a different journal for them (I used the same technique to create the background cardstock layer and ribbon). The focal panel is a modified version of a recent card that I created - see post under Lovely As A Tree.

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Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! As an independent Stampin' Up! demonstrator I am responsible for the content of this blog. It is not endorsed by Stampin' Up! Unless otherwise noted, all images copyright 2016 Stampin' Up! Also, unless otherwise noted, all of my designs are copyrighted by me and you are free to CASE (Copy and Share Everything) my designs for PERSONAL USE ONLY. PLEASE DO NOT COPY or CASE my designs for any challenge, contest, publication or for re-sale of any type. If you do decide to CASE my designs for personal use and publish that CASE anywhere on the internet, please give credit (link back to my blog) :-)

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